
Glass. 
Book. 



- -.-lb 



ls_E? 



Sbfe 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



THE 




i LOWER OF IBERTY 



I 






<£foit*b antr Mlusirafrfc 



By JULIA A. M. FITKBISH. 



BOSTON: 
TICK NOR AND FIELDS. 



1866. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by 

JULIA A M. FURBISH, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



&' 



3 2~£ 




CAMBKIDGE: 

STERBOTYPED AND PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SONS. 
Plates lithographed by Bufford and Sons, Boston. 









INTRODUCTION. 







HAYE thought that I could not make a more 
acceptable offering to gentlemen of the Army 
and Navy, and to all lovers of our glorious 
flag and the institutions which it symbolizes and pro- 
te ts, than the following collection from poets of world- 
wide renown, illustrated, though imperfectly, by my 
humble pencil. 

During the first year of the war, when the mania for 
collecting Union designs for preservation was so preva- 
lent in the loyal States, I thought that I would paint for 
myself, in water colors, a volume of national designs; 
knowing that I could thus, at my leisure and as fancy 
might dictate, make a more original and artistic collec- 
tion than could be gathered from the numerous designs 
to be met with here and there, and which, having been 
published at slight expense, were of necessity wanting 
in beauty of coloring, and were, in most cases, imperfect 
in drawing 

[iii| 



IV rKTTKODUCTIOX. 

I began the work in 1861, painting the pictures as 
they were suggested by the different emblems that ap- 
peared during the war, and anxiously watching for every 
new phase of loyalty that might furnish material for my 
purpose. My work was a little more than a third finished 
when the surrender of General Lee matured the half- 
formed plan I had made three years previous ; namely, to 
complete it for publication as soon as peace should be 
restored. I opened a correspondence with the authors 
whose names will be found in the volume ; and received 
from them the most generous and flattering proofs of 
their interest in the proposed work, in the form either 
of original or revised poems, adapted to my drawings. 
Suitably to requite them all for the favors bestowed 
upon me, is not in my power; yet gratitude to them and 
respect for myself require that I should at least offer 
them the reasonable service of sincere and hearty thanks. 
And here let me express my deep regret that several 
valuable offerings for this work have either been received 
too late, or have been excluded for want of time on my 
part to prepare suitable illustrations. I am most grate- 
ful for the kindness of Senator Sumner, which enables 
me to give a sketch of the cane once belonging to our 
martyr-President, recently presented to him by Mrs. 
Lincoln, and bearing the beautiful design of the eagle 
shielding her nest of eaglets, with the folds of the flag, 



INTRODUCTION. V 

from the approach of a serpent. Also would I acknowl- 
edge my indebtedness to others, whose designs in differ- 
ent forms have aided me so materially in the illustration 
of this volume. 

It has been suggested, that it would be well to have 
in the collection one representation, at least, of our ban- 
ner, " all tattered and torn; " but, on reflection, I shrank 
from the thought of thus helping to commemorate the 
fact that it had been insulted by those who had solemnly 
sworn to keep it flying in the face of all foes without and 
foes within. I chose rather to regard it as a thing of 
divine life, which, though trampled on for a while, will, 
from its inherent self-restoring power, rise again, and, in 
company with him from whose teachings it sprang and 
blossomed into the Flower of Liberty, will, to the end 
of time and throughout the world, keep pace with the 
progress of Christianity and equal rights. After four 
years of as heroic bravery in deadly combat as was ever 
recorded of the embattled hosts of Alexander, Caesar, 
Napoleon, or "Wellington, it now shakes out its trium- 
phant folds over all the late rebellions States of the 
Union. It waves, alas ! over rivers and seas, over moun- 
tains and plains, crimsoned with the blood of many 
thousands of gallant and noble young men, — 

" Whose soiils, like setting suns, 
Have left their radiance flung on sea and shore." 



VI INTRODUCTION. 

But, although their earthly tabernacle has been de- 
stroyed, they still live: and thank God that, through 
their instrumentality, the integrity of their beloved 
country has been maintained; and that they, as glorified 
spirits, can now "behold the gorgeous ensign of the 
republic, known and honored throughout the earth, 
streaming in its original lustre, not a stripe erased or 
polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for its 
motto, spread all over in characters of living light, bla- 
zing on all its' ample folds, as they float over the sea 
and over the land, and in every wind under the whole 
heavens, the sentiment, clear to every true American 
heart, — 'Liberty and Union, now and for ever, one 
and inseparable.' " 

JULIA A. M. FURBISH. 

Portland, Me., January, 1866. 



COXTEXTS. 



Oliver Wendell Holmes .... 9 

George William Cur! is .... 11 

John G. Whittier 12 

William Citllen Bryant .... 1-5 

Thomas Bailey Aldrich .... 17 

Bayard Taylor 18 

Henry W. Longfellow .... 21 

iter. John Pierpont 23 

William Ross Wallace .... 24 



The Flower of Liberty 

Fort Wagner: 1863. —Who shall Yote? 1865. 

Lais Deo! 

•■ Not Yet" 

Accomplices: Virginia. 1865 

To the American People 

Christmas Bells 

God of Peace 

Keep Step -with the Music of Union .... 

Our Flag T. W. Parsons 

Voluntaries Ralph Waldo Emerson . . 

The Soldiers of Meduxnakeag David Barker 

Stars of My Country's Sky L. H. Sigoumey .... 

'■ Love One Another" Harriet Me Even Kimball . 

The Heart of the War T. G. Holland 

The Eagle of Corinth Henry H. Brownell . . . 

Our Flag Kale Putnam 

Exodus . Mrs. Adeline D. T. Whitney 

The Color-Bearer J. T. Trowbridge .... 

Flag of the Constellation T. Buchanan Read . . . 

Peace H. E. Prescott 

The Flag 

"Our Guiding Stars" 

The War-Fagle 

'■Quaker Loyalty" 



33 
35 
36 
41 
47 
49 
51 
55 
57 

Jidia Ward Howe 58 

Orpheus C. Kerr 62 

John Neal 64 

John G. Whittier 6« 



The Hero of Lake Erie Henry Theodore Tuckerman . . 67 

The Flag George H. Boker 72 

[vii] 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

Page 

The Ship of State Henry W. Longfellow .... 74 

National Anthem: God of the Free .... William Ross Wallace .... 75 

The Flag Lucy Larcom . 77 

After All William Winter 79 

The Union, — Eight or Wrong George P. Morris 81 

The Flag B. P. ShiUaber 83 

Our Land and its Memories Charles T. Brooks 85 

America Charles K. Tuckerman. ... 89 

Wounded unto Death Charles A. Barry 92 

The Old Blue Coat Bishop Burgess 95 

The Empty Sleeve David Barker 99 

Our Flag Orpheus C. Kerr 101 

Union and Liberty Oliver Wendell Holmes . . . . 10G 

Our Country Harriet McEwen Kimb^'l . . . 108 

The Old Flag Over-Sea Henry Morfovd 110 

P^ean for Victory Edward P.-NouxU 115 

The Flag J. Rollin M. Squire 117 

After the War Mrs. Ann S. Stephens . . . . 119 

The Great Bell Boland Theodore Tilton 121 

Spirit of the Union Soldiers Miles O'Reilly 125 

Peace Phcebe Cary 127 

Union Albert Laighton 129 

Abraham Lincoln Mrs. Julia Ward Howe . . . 130 



C&t Jlofoer of gibrfg. 



,Y OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. 




HAT flower is this that greets the morn, 
Its hues from heaven so freshly born \ 
"With burning star and flaming band 
It kindles all the sunset-land, — 

O, tell us what its name may be ! 

Is this the Flower of Liberty ? 

It is the banner of the free, 

The starry Flower of Liberty ! 

In savage Nature's far abode 

Its tender seed our fathers sowed: 

The storm-winds rocked its swelling bud, 

Its opening leaves were streaked with blood, 

Till, lo, earth's tyrants shook to see 

The full-blown Flower of Liberty ! 

Then hail the banner of the free, 

The starry Flower of Liberty ! 

[9] 



10 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

Behold ! its streaming rays unite — 
One mingling flood of braided light — 
The red that fires the Southern rose 
"With spotless white from Northern snows, 
And, spangled o'er its azure sea, 
The sister stars of Liberty ! 
Then hail the banner of the free, 
The starry Flower of Liberty ! 

The blades of heroes fence it round ; 
"Where'er it springs is holy ground: 
From tower and dome its glories spread ; 
It waves where lonely sentries tread; 
It makes the land as ocean free, 
And plants an empire on the sea : 
Then hail the banner of the free, 
The starry Flower of Liberty ! 

Thy sacred leaves, fair Freedom's flower, 
Shall ever float on dome and tower, 
To all their heavenly colors true, 
In blackening frost or crimson dew, — 
And God love us as we love thee, 
Thrice holy Flower of Liberty ! 
Then hail the banner of the free, 
The starry Flower of Liberty ! 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 



11 



gaxt Wagner: UB3. — «% shall Sole? 1865. 



BY GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS. 




LIVING cloud of mingled hue 
Across the sand impetuous came, • 

Into a fiery whirlwind grew, 

And dashed against the fort in flame. 



One purpose in each steady heart; 

One light in every solemn eye: 
" Brothers, alive we do not part ; 

We die together, if we die." 

They fought together, black and white; 

They fell together, true and brave; 
They died together in the fight; 

They rest together in one grave. 



One blood, one faith, one hope, they shared; 

One right with us their brethren share : 
To die for us those heroes dared; 

To wrong- their brothers do we dare? 



12 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 



faitS gjftOf.I 

BY JOHN G. WHITTIER. 

On hearing the bells ring for the Constitutional Amendment abolishing Slavery in the 
United States. 




T is done ! 

Clang of bell and roar of gun 
Send the tidings up and down. 
How the belfries rock and reel ! 
How the great guns, peal on peal, 
Fling the joy from town to town ! 

Eing, O bells! 

Every stroke exulting tells 
Of the burial-hour of crime. 

Loud and long, that all may hear, 

Eing for every listening ear 
Of Eternity and Time ! 

Let us kneel ! 

God's own voice is in that peal, 
And this spot is holy ground. 

Lord, forgive us! What are we, 

That our eyes this glory see, 
That our ears have heard the sound ! 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 13 

For the Lord 

On the whirlwind is abroad; 
In the earthquake he has spoken: 

He has smitten with his thunder 

The iron walls asunder, 
And the gates of brass are broken! 

Loud and long 

Lift the old exulting song; 
Sing with Miriam by the sea: 

He hath cast the mighty down; 

Horse and rider sink and drown ; 
He hath triumphed gloriously ! 

Did we dare, 

In our agony of prayer, 
Ask for more than he has done ? 

"When was ever his right hand, 

Over any time or land, 
Stretched as now beneath the sun? 

How they pale, 
Ancient myth and song and tale, 

In this wonder of our days, 
When the cruel rod of war 
Blossoms white with righteous law, 

And the wrath of man is praise ! 



14- THE FLOWER OE LIBERTY. 

Blotted out! 
All within, and all about, 

Shall a fresher life begin; 
Freer breathe the universe 
As it rolls its heavy curse 

On the dead and buried sin ! 

It is done! 
In the circuit of the sun 

Shall the sound thereof go forth. 
It shall bid the sad rejoice, 
It shall give the dumb a voice, 

It shall belt with joy the earth ! 

Ring and swing" 
Bells of joy ! on morning's wing 

Send the song of praise abroad ; 
"With a sound of broken chains, 
Tell the nations that He reigns 

Who alone is Lord and God ! 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 15 



"|d i)et." 



BY WILLIAM CULLEX BRYANT. 



COUJSTTKY, marvel of the earth ! 

O realm to sudden greatness grown ! 
The age that gloried in thy birth, 
Shall it behold thee overthrown ? 
Shall traitors lay that greatness low ? 
'No : land of hope and blessing, no ! 

And we, who wear thy glorious name, 
Shall we, like cravens, stand apart, 

When those whom thou hast trusted aim 
The death-blow at thy generous heart? 

Forth goes the battle-cry, and lo ! 

Hosts rise in harness, shouting no ! 

And they who founded in our land 
The power that rules from sea to sea, 

Bled they in vain, or vainly planned 
To leave their country great and free? 

Their sleeping ashes, from below, 

Send up the thrilling murmur, no ! 



16 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

Knit they the gentle ties which long 
These sister States were proud to wear, 

And forged the kindly links so strong, 
For idle hands in sport to tear, — 

For scornful hands aside to throw? 

No : by our fathers' memory, no ! 

Our humming marts, our iron ways, 

Our wind-tossed woods on mountain crest 

The hoarse Atlantic, with his lays, 
The calm broad ocean of the West, 

And Mississippi's torrent flow, 

And loud Niagara, answer, no ! 

Not yet the hour is nigh, when they 
"Who deep in Eld's dim twilight sit, 

Earth's ancient kings, shall rise and say, 
" Proud country, welcome to the pit : 

So soon art thou, like us, brought low?" 

No : sullen groups of shadows, no ! 

For now, behold the arm that gave 
The victory in our fathers' day, 

Strong as of old to guard and save, — 
That mighty arm which none can stay, 

On clouds above and fields below, 

Writes in men's sight, the answer, no ! 



J 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 17 



%mm$lmti : Wixgrniu, I860. 



BV THOMAS BAILEY ALDHICH. 




§P5|1 HE soft new grass is creeping o'er the graves 

By the Potomac; and the crisp ground-flower 
Lifts its blue cup to catch the passing shower; 
The pine-cone ripens, and the long moss waves 
Its tangled gonfalons above our braves. 

Hark, what a burst of music from yon bower ! — 
The Southern nightingale that, hour by hour, 
In its melodious summer madness raves. 
Ah ! with what delicate touches of her hand, 

"With what sweet voices, Nature seeks to screen 
The awful Crime of this distracted land, — 

Sets her birds singing, while she spreads her green 
Mantle of velvet where the Murdered lie, 
As if to hide the horror from God's eye ! 



18 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 




C0 % Jlmmcan |Mof le. 

BY BAYARD TAYLOR. 

HAT late, in half-despair, I said, 
" The Nation's ancient life is dead; 
Her arm is weak, her blood is cold ; 
She hugs the peace that gives her gold, - 
The shameful peace, that sees expire 
Each beacon-light of patriot-fire, 
And makes her court a traitor's den:" 
Forgive me this, my countrymen ! 

Oh ! in your long forbearance grand, 
Slow to suspect the treason planned, 
Enduring wrong, yet hoping good, 
For sake of olden brotherhood ; 
How grander, how sublimer far 
At the roused eagle's call ye are, 
Leaping from slumber to the fight 
For Freedom and for Chartered Right ! 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 19 

Throughout the land there goes a cry; 
A sudden splendor fills the sky ; 
From every hill the banners burst, 
Like buds by April breezes nurst : 
In every hamlet, home, and mart, 
The fire-beat of a single heart 
Keeps time to strains whose pulses mix 
Our blood with that of Seventy-Six ! 

The shot whereby the old flag fell 
From Sumter's battered citadel 
Struck down the lines of party creed, 
And made ye one in soul and deed, — 
One mighty People, stern and strong, 
To crush the consummated wrong; 
Indignant with the wrath whose rod 
Smites as the awful sword of God ! 

The cup is full ! They thought ye blind; 
The props of state they undermined ; 
Abused your trust, your strength defied. 
And stained the Nation's name of pride. 
Now lift to heaven your loyal brows, 
Swear once again your fathers' vows, 
And cut through traitor hearts a. track 
To nobler fame and freedom back ! 



20 



THE FLOWER OE LIBERTY. 



Draw forth your million blades as one 
Complete the battle then begun! 
God fights with ye, and overhead 
Floats the dear banner of your dead : 
They, and the glories of the Past, 
The Future dawning dim and vast, 
And all the holiest hopes of man, 
Are beaming triumph in your van ! 



Slow to resolve, be swift to do ! 
Teach ye the False how fight the True ! 
How bucklered Perfidy shall feel 
In her black heart the Patriot's steel; 
How sure the bolt that Justice wings; 
How weak the arm a traitor brings ; 
How mighty they who steadfast stand 
For Freedom's Flas: and Freedom's Land ! 



iE&Sf* 






vm £ i'-k 







THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 21 



Christmas °§dk. 

BY HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. 

HEARD the bells on Christmas Day 
Their old familiar carols play, 
And wild and sweet 
The words repeat 
Of peace on earth, good- will to men! 

I thought how, as the day had come, 
The belfries of all Christendom 

Had rolled along 

The unbroken song 
Of peace on earth, good- will to men 

Till, ringing, singing on its way, 
The world revolved from night to day 

A voice, a chime, 

A chant sublime 
Of peace on earth, good-will to men ! 

Then from each black, accursed mouth, 
The cannon thundered in the South, 

And with the sound 

The carols drowned 
Of peace on earth, good- will to men ! 



22 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

It was as if an earthquake rent 
The hearthstones of a continent, 

And made forlorn 

The households born 
Of peace on earth, good-will to men ! 

And in despair I bowed my head: 
" There is no peace on earth," I said ; 

" For hate is strong, 

And mocks the song 
Of peace on earth, good-will to men ! " 

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep : 
" God is not dead; nor doth he sleep ! 

The Wrong shall fail, 

The Right prevail, 
With peace on earth, good- will to men I " 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 23 




(Soft of Ipeace. 

BY THE REV. JOHN PIERPONT. 

OD of Peace ! whose spirit fills 
All the echoes of our hills, 
All the murmurs of our rills, 
Now the storm is o'er : — 
Oh, let freemen be our sons ; 
And let future Washingtons 
Rise to lead their valiant ones, 
Till there's war no more ! 

By the patriot's hallowed rest, 
By the warrior's gory breast, 
Never let our graves be pressed 

By a despot's throne: 
By the Pilgrim's toils and cares, 
By their battles and their prayers, 
By their ashes, let our heirs 

Bow to thee alone. 



24 THE FLOWER OE LIBERTY 




|Uep Step foiijr % Husk of Wanon. 

BY WILLIAM ROSS WALLACE. 

EEP step with the music of Union! 
The music our ancestors sung 
"When States, like a jubilant chorus, 
To beautiful sisterhood sprung. 
Oh ! thus shall their great Constitution, 

That guards all the homes of the land, 
A mountain of freedom and justice 

For millions eternally stand. 
North and South, East and West, all unfurling 

One tanner alone o'er the sod; 
Oiste voice from America sivelling 
In worship of Liberty's God. 

Keep step with the music of Union ! 

'Tis thus we shall nourish the light 
Our fathers lit for the chained nations 

That darkle in Tyranny's night. 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

The blood of the whole world is with us, 

( )'er ocean by oligarchs hurled, 
And they who would dare to attack us 

Shall sink with the wrath of a world. 
North and South, &c. 

r Keep step with the music of Union ! " 

Our soldiers and sailor-boys shout, 
"While from their invincible cannon 

The thunders roll choruses out, — 
" Down, down with all traitors polluting 

The world Freedom's God gave the Free ! 
The Flag of Graxt, Farragut, ever 

Shall rule on the shore and the sea. 
North and South, &c." 

" Keep step with the music of Union ! " 

Still Lixcolx, the glorified, eries; 
The flames of the patriot flashing, 

Like lightning of heaven, from his eyes; 
Red wrath on all copperhead demons 

Who dare trail their blasphemous slime 
On Loyalty's thrice-sacred flowers, 

That Washeygtox sowed in our clime ! 
North and South, &c. 



26 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

Keep step with the music of Union ! 

All traitors shall sink at the sound; 
But patriots march on to Heaven, 

"With hallowed harmony crowned: 
Then cheer for the Past with its glory, 

For the resolute Present hurrah, 
And shout for the starry-browed Future, 

With "Virtue and Freedom and Law ! 
North and South, East and West, all unfurling 

One banner alone o'er the sod; 
One voice from America swelling 

In worship of Liberty's God I 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 27 



®ux flag. 

BY T. W. PARSONS. 

' Liberta va cercando, che e si cava ! " 

Dante. 
It waves for Liberty, that is so dear ! 



fc|TILL proudest symbol on the seas, 
^SfesVj, Young banner of my native land ! 
The time is near when every breeze 
By which thy starry folds are fanned 

Shall bring the name of Freedom clear. 
More clear than ever heard before, 

To each expecting bondman's ear, 
On every tyrant-trodden shore. 

Beyond the fires of Ilecla, thou 

Shalt burn with no uncertain gleam, 

And crowds of worshippers shall bow 
To thee by many an orient stream. 



28 



THE FLOWER OP LIBERTY. 



Dull Egypt, startled in her fen, 

Shall hail thee fluttering in the ^N~ile ! 

And fearless tribes of painted men 
Salute thee from their savage isle. 

Wherever other flags may dare 
To carry new distress and wrong, 

Thy radiant heraldry shall bear 
A token earth has looked for long. 

The hues of heaven's prophetic bow 

Less beauteous then shall seem than thine: 

]STor more of peace and hope bestow 
Than thy serene, fulfilling sign. 






THE FLOWEK OF LIBERTY. 29 



Voluntaries. 



BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON. 




(KEEDOM, all winged, expands, 
Nor perches in a narrow place ; 
Her broad van seeks implanted lands ; 
She loves a poor and virtuous race. 
Clinging to a colder zone, 
Whose dark sky sheds the snowflake down, 
The snowflake is her banner's star, 
Her stripes the boreal streamers are. 
Freedom loves the Northman well. 



30 THE FLOWER OE LIBERTY. 



Clje 'jfoMers ai Igttorakeajj. 



BY DAVID BARKER. 




OME on with me now: let us travel on, 

]STot far, — not many a league, — 
From the spot where the old and the bold St. John 

Locks hands with Meduxnakeag. 



As a pay or a fee for this stroll with me, 

I will tell you a tale to-day, 
Of the wife, the widow, the mother, — all three, 

And the soldiers, Robert Gray. 

It was here, very near where we stroll to-day, 
Where the grim old barrack * stands, 

That a girl in the pride of her youth, they say, 
"With a Sergeant Gray locked hands. 

But Death stole into those barrack walls, 
Which stood near the river's banks, 

And entered the name of that Sergeant Gray 
On the list of his spectre ranks. 

* At Houlton, Maine. 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 31 

But the years rolled by at Meduxnakeag, 

When quick came a country's call 
For the name of her own, of her manly boy, 

Through a rent in that barrack wall. 

She bade him go forth from Meduxnakeag, 

To his God and his country true; 
She bade him go forth, this young Captain Gray, 

Clad out in his Union blue. 

He went: but he wandered not back again 

To the roof near the river's banks ; 
He went, like his father, old Sergeant Gray, 

To fill up Death's spectre ranks. 

From the charge on that field,* that was steeping in 
gore, 
He went where the brave spirits dwell, 
"With " JVb matter for me!" and "Push ox, my brave 

BOYS ! " 

Ringing out o'er the shot and the shell. 

What is that, crouching there in the barrack's nook, 

Bowed down by the hand of dismay? 
There's a trace in her face of the laughing girl, — . 

O O O 7 

'Tis the mother of Robert Gray. 

* Fort Oilman, Sept. 28, 1864. 



32 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

Let us leave the weird walls at Meduxnakeag : 

I'm too old and ashamed to cry, 
And I feel that the tears are rushing fast 

For the crowsfeet round my eye. 

But, my friends, if you worship a God in this life, 
And you ever kneel down to pray, 

Remember the mother, the widow, the wife, 
Of the soldiers, Robert Gray. 



THE FLOWEB OF LIBERTY. 



33 



^tars of mn Country's i?kg. 



SIGOURNKY. 



-^t^jpRE ye all there ? are ye all there, 
irj Vu j Stars of my country's sky ? 
^M Are ye all there ? are ye all there, 
In your shining homes on high ? 
" Count us ! count us ! " was their answer, 

As they darted on my view, 
In glorious perihelion, 
Amid then field of blue. 

I cannot count ye rightly; 

There's a cloud with sable rim : 
I cannot make your number out, 

For my eyes with tears are dim. 
O bright and blessed angel ! 

On white wing floating by, 
Help me to count, and not to miss 

One star in my country's sky. 



34 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

Then the angel touched mine eyelids, 

And touched the frowning cloud; 
And its sable rim departed, 

And it fled with murky shroud. 
There was no missing Pleiad 

'Mid all that sister race: 
The Southern Cross gleamed radiant forth, 

And the Pole-star kept its place. 

Then I knew it was the angel 

"Who woke the hymning strain 
That, at our dear Redeemer's birth, 

Pealed out o'er Bethlehem's plain; 
And still its heavenly key-tone 

My listening country held, 
For all her constellated stars 

The diapason swelled. 



tfer ifcr jBc^&T&nkyx 




Tftr iftr y fa'dr'$i'fa'fe'fa 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 35 



" I ofa #ne gMbtr." 



I!Y HA H It I K T M ° E W E N KIMB A h L 




E-UNITED, scourged yet blest, 
Oh, let contention cease ! 
One your banner, one your crest, 
Brothers, be at peace ! 



Sheathe the sword, rebellious South! 

O North, bind up the wound ! 
Dead the thing* that cursed ye both; 

Let o-ood-will abound ! 



Freedom, queen by right divine, 
Her reign indeed begun ! 

Six and thirty stars shall shine 
In her crown as one! 



36 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 



BY J. G. HOLLAND. 

EACE in the clover-scented air, 
And stars within the dome; 
And underneath, in dim repose, 
A plain New-England home. 
Within, a murmur of low tones, 

And sighs from hearts oppressed, 
Merging in prayer at last, that brings 
The balm of silent rest. 




I've closed a hard day's work, Marty; 

The evening chores are done; 
And you are weary with the house 

And with the little one. 
But he is sleeping sweetly now, 

With all our pretty brood: 
So come, and sit upon my knee, 

And it will do me good. 







^u-N\£»4Hj 


P*£ TBEf 




ffi 



THE PLOWEE OF LIBERTY. 

Marty! I must tell you all 
The trouble in my heart; 

And von must do the best you can 

To take and hear your part. 
You've seen the shadow on my face, 

You've felt it day and night; 
For it has filled our little home, 

And banished all its light. 

1 did not mean it should be so; 
And yet I might have known 

That hearts that live as close as ours 

Can never keep their own. 
But we are fallen on evil times; 

And, do whate'er I may, 
My heart grows sad about the war, 

And sadder every day. 

I think about it when I work, 

And when I try to rest ; 
And never more than when your head 

Is pillowed on my breast. 
For then I see the camp-fires blaze, 

And sleeping men around. 
Who turn their faces toward their homes, 

And dream upon the ground. 



38 THE FLOWER OE LIBERTY. 

I think about the clear brave boys, 

My mates in other years, 
"Who pine for home and those they love, 

Till I am choked with tears. 
With shouts and cheers they marched away 

On glory's shining track; 
But ah, how long, how long they stay ! 

How few of them come back ! 

One sleeps beside the Tennessee, 

And one beside the James; 
And one fought on a gallant ship, 

And perished in its flames. 
And some, struck down by fell disease, 

Are breathing out their life ; 
And others, maimed by cruel wounds, 

Have left the deadly strife. 

Ah, Marty, Marty ! only think 

Of all the boys have done 
And suffered in this weary war, — 

Brave heroes every one. 
Oh ! often, often in the night, 

I hear their voices call, — 
Gome on, and help us! Is it right 

That we should hear it all? 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 39 

And when I kneel, and try to pray, 

My thoughts are never free 
But cling to those who toil and fight 

And die for you and me ; 
And, when I pray for victory, 

It seems almost a sin 
To fold my hands, and ask for what 

I will not help to win. 

Oh! do not cling to me and cry; 

For it will break my heart : 
I'm sure you'd rather have me die 

Than not to bear my part. 
You think that some should stay at home 

To care for those away; 
But still I'm helpless to decide 

If I should go or stay. 

For, Marty, all the soldiers love, 

And all are loved again; 
And I am loved, and love perhaps 

No more than other men. 
I cannot tell — I do not know — 

Which way my duty lies, 
Or where the Lord would have me build 

My fire of sacrifice. 



40 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

I feel — I know — I am not mean ; 

And, though I seem to boast, 
I'm sure that I would give my life 

To those who need it most. 
Perhaps the Spirit will reveal 

That which is fair and right : 
So, Marty, let us humbly kneel 

And pray to Heaven for light. 



Peace in the clover-scented air, 

And stars within the dome; 
And underneath, in dim repose, 

A plain New-England home. 
"Within, a widow in her weeds, 

From whom all joy is flown, 
Who kneels among her sleeping babes, 

And weeps and prays alone. 



^ 




THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 



41 



&Ijc $&a\t of (Corinth.* 



BY HENRY II. BKOWX1XI.. 




ID you hear of the fight at Corinth, 

How we whipped out Price and Tan Dorn' 
(Ah ! that day we earned our rations : 



Our cause was God's and the Nation's, 
Or we'd have come out forlorn!) 

A long and a terrible day! 

And at last, when night grew gray, 

By the hundred there they lay 

(Heavy sleepers, you'd say), 
That wouldn't wake on the morn. 



* " The finest thing I ever saw was a live American eagle, carried by the 8th 
Wisconsin Regiment, in the place of a flag. It would fly off over the enemy 
during the hottest of the fight; then would return, and seat himself upon his 
pole, clap his pinions, shake his head, and start again. Many and hearty were 
the cheers that arose from our lines as the old fellow would sail around, first to 
the right, then to the left, and always return to his post, regardless of the storm 
of leaden hail that was around him. Something seemed to tell us that that 
battle was to result in our favor : and, when the order was given to charge, 
every man went at them with fixed bayonets ; and the enemy scattered in all 
directions, leaving us in possession of the battle-field." — Letter from an Illinois 
Volunteer. 



42 THE PLOWEK OE LIBERTY. 

Our staff was bare of a flag : 
We didn't carry a rag 

In those brave marching days; 
Ah, no ! but a finer thing, 
With never a cord or string, — 
An Eagle, of ruffled wing, 

And an eye of awful gaze ! 

The grape — it rattled like hail ; 

The minies were dropping- like rain, 
The first of a thunder-shower; 

The wads were blowing like chaff, 
(There was pounding, like floor and flail, 

All the front of our line!) 
So we stood it, hour after hour; 

But our eagle — he felt fine ! 

'Twoulcl have made you cheer and laugh, 
To see, through that iron gale, 
How the old Fellow'd swoop and sail 
Above the racket and roar: 
To right and to left he'd soar; 
But ever came back, without fail, 

And perched on his standard staff. 

All that day, I tell you true, 

They had pressed us, steady and fair, 






THE FLOWEE OK LIBERTY. 43 

Till we fought in street and square 
(The affair, you might think, looked blue) ; 

But we knew Ave had them there ! 
Our works and batteries were few. — 
Every gun, they'd have sworn, they knew; 
But, you see, there w r as one or tw^o 

"We had fixed for them, unaware* 

They reckon they've got us now! 

For the next half hour 'twill be warm. 
Aye, aye ; look yonder ! — I vow, 
If they weren't Secesh, how I'd love them ! 

Only see how grandly they form 
(Our eagle whirling above them) 

To take Robinett by storm ! 
They're timing ! — it can't be long — 
^N"ow for the nub of the fight! 

(You may guess that we held our breath.) 
By the Lord ! 'tis a splendid sight, — 
A column two thousand strong 

Marching square to the death ! 

On they came in solid column; 

For once, no whooping nor yell 
(Ah ! I dare say they felt solemn) . 

Front and flank, grape and shell. 



44 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

Our batteries pounded away ! 
And the minies hummed to remind 'em 

They had started on no child's play! 
Steady they kept a-going-, 
But a grim wake settled behind 'em: 
From the edge of the abattis 

(Where our dead and dying lay 
Under fence and fallen tree) 

Up to Robinett, all the way 
The dreadful swath kept growing! 

'Twas butternut necked with gray. 

Now for it, at Robinett ! 
Muzzle to muzzle we met 

(Not a breath of bluster or brag, 

Not a lisp for quarter or favor) , 
Three times, there by Robinett! 
"With a rush, their feet they set 
On the logs of our parapet, 

And waved their bit of a flag : 

What could be finer or braver? 
But our cross-fire stunned them in flank; 
They melted, rank after rank; 
(Over them, with terrible poise, 
Our Bird did circle and wheel !) 

Their whole line bewail to waver, — 



THE FLOWEE OF LIBERTY. 45 

jSTow for the bayonet, boys! 
On them with the cold steel ! 

Ah, well ! — yon know how it ended: 

"We did for them, there and then ; 
But their pluck throughout was splendid. 
(As I said before, I could love them!) 

They stood, to the last, like men: 
Only a handful of them 

Found their way back again. 
Red as blood, o'er the town, 
The angry sun went down, 

Firing flao-staif and vane. 
And our eagle, — as for him, 
There, all ruffled and grim, 

He sat, o'erlooking the slain! 

Next morning you'd have wondered 

How we had to drive the spade ! 
There, in great trenches and holes, 

(Ah, God rest their poor souls!) 
We piled some fifteen hundred 

Where that last charge was made ! 

Sad enough, I must say! 

No mother to mourn and search, 



46 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

No priest to bless or to pray : 
We buried them where they lay, 

Without a rite of the church; 
But our eagle, all that clay, 

Stood solemn and still on his perch. 
'Tis many a stormy day 
Since, out of the cold, bleak North, 
Our great War-Eagle sailed forth 
To swoop o'er battle and fray. 
Many and many a day 
O'er charge and storm hath he wheeled, 
Foray and foughten field, 

Tramp and volley and rattle ! 
Over crimson trench and turf, 
Over climbing clouds of surf, 
Through tempest and cannon-rack, 
Have his terrible pinions whirled. 
(A thousand fields of battle ! 

A million leagues of foam !) 
But our bird shall yet come back: 

He shall soar to his Eyrie-Home, 
And his thunderous Wings be furled, 
In the gaze of a gladdened world, 

On the Nation's loftiest Dome. 



Tin: flower of liberty. 47 



(Dur glna. 



BY KATE PUTNAM. 




EAL out, bells ! from jubilant throats, 
A sudden song of mirth ! 
Lo, where across our land it floats, 
The flower of all the earth ! 
More firmly are its roots inwrought 

With Love and Life, to-day. 
Than when the grasp of Treason sought 
To rend its bloom away. 

The blood of gallant hearts and true 

Has lent its crimson dye ; 
Its azure is the splendid blue 

Of Hope's unclouded sky; 
And, blotting out the bitter Past, 

A People's tears of pain 
Have washed its whiteness pure, at last, 

From Slavery's ancient stain. 



48 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

Look down from your eternal height, 

Ye spirits tried and brave, 
And crown with Heaven's refulgent light 

The flag ye died to save ! 
Look up, O living, loyal eyes ! 

"Where, every steady star 
Undimmed within its native skies, 

Your standard shines afar! 

Let reverent silence be its meed; 

Firm heart and prayerful breath : 
What paean can that glory need 

Whose power is proved by Death? 
The grave that holds our Martyr-chief, 

The fields that hide our slain, 
Shall voice a Nation's love and grief, 

Her triumph and her pain. 

Oh, symbol-hope of all the world ! 

The pledge of Liberty! 
A stronger hand than ours unfurled 

Thy mighty prophecy. 
Let all thy starry splendors shine! 

Chime, bells, in sweet accord ! 
Earth cannot harm that holy sign, — 

The banner of the Lord ! 



THE PLOWEK OF LIBERTY. 49 



Cnriws. 



BY MRS. ADELINE D. T. WHITNEY. 




IjEAR ye not how, from all high points of Time, — 
From peak to peak, a-down the. mighty chain 
That links the ages, echoing sublime 
A voice almighty, — leaps one grand refrain, 
Wakening the generation with a shout 
And trumpet-call of thunder, — Come ye out ! 

Out from old forms and dead idolatries, 

From fading myths and superstitious dreams, 

From Pharisaic rituals and lies, 

And all the bondage of the life that seems, — 

Out, on the pilgrim-path of heroes trod 

On earth's wastes, to reach forth after God ! 

The Lord hath bowed his heaven, and come down! 

JN"ow, in this latter century of time, 
Once more his tent is pitched on Sinai's crown ; 

Once more in clouds must Faith to meet him climb; 

4 



50 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

Once more his thunder crashes on our doubt 
And fear and sin, — My people, come ye out ! 

From false ambitions and base luxuries, 
From puny aims and indolent self-ends, 

From cant of faith and shams of liberties, 

And mist of ill that Truth's day-beam lends, — 

Out from all darkness of the Egypt-land, 

Into thy sun-blaze on the desert sand ! 

" Leave ye your flesh-pots ; turn from filthy greed 
Of gain, that doth the thirsting spirit mock, — 

And heaven shall drop sweet manna for your need, 
And rain clear rivers from the unhewn rock." 

Thus saith the Lord ! and Moses, meek, unshod, 

"Within the cloud stands hearkening to his God. 

Show us our Aaron, with his rod in flower; 

Our Miriam, with her timbrel-soul in time ! 
And call some Joshua in the Spirit's power 

To poise our sun of strength at point of noon ! 
God of our fathers ! on land and sea 
Still keep our struggling footsteps close to Thee. 



THE PLOWEB OF LIBERTY. 51 



%\i Color- fearer. 



RO W Ii R 1 Dil E. 




1"WAS a fortress to be stormed: 

Boldly right in view they formed, 
All as quiet as a regiment parading: 
Then in front a line of flame ! 
Then at left and right the same ! 
Two platoons received a furious enfilading. 
To their places still they filed, 
And they smiled at the wild 
Cannonading. 

" 'Twill be over in an hour ! 

'Twill not be much of a shower! 
^Tever mind, my boys," said he, " a little drizzling . 

Then to cross that fatal plain, 

Through the whirring, hurtling rain 
Of the grape-shot, and the minie-bullets' whistling! 

But he nothing heeds nor shuns, 

As he runs, with the guns 
Brightly bristling ! 



52 tut: flowee oe liberty. 

Leaving- trails of dead and dying 

In their track, yet forward flying 
Like a breaker where the gale of conflict rolled them, 

With a foam of flashing light 

Borne before them on their bright 
Burnished barrels, — oh, 'twas fearful to behold them! 

While from ramparts roaring loud 

Swept a cloud like a shroud 
To enfold them ! 



Oh, his color was the first ! 

Through the bnrving cloud he burst, 
With the standard to the battle forward slanted ! 

Through the belching, blinding breath 

Of the flaming jaws of Death, 
Til! his banner on the bastion he had planted ! 

By the screaming shot that fell, 

And the yell of the shell, 
Nothing daunted. 

Right against the bulwark dashing. 
Over tangled branches crashing. 
'Mid the plunging volleys thundering ever louder! 
There he clambers, there he stands. 
With the ensign in bis hands, — 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 53 

Oh ! was ever hero handsomer or prouder? 
Streaked with battle-sweat and slime, 
And sublime in the grime 
Of the powder ! 

'Twas six minutes, at the least, 

Ere the closing combat ceased, — 
Near as we the might)- moments then could measure; 

And we held our souls with awe, 

Till his haughty flag we saw 
On the lifting vapors drifting o'er the embrasure, — 

Saw it glimmer, in our tears, 

While our ears heard the cheers 
" Rend the azure ! 

Through the abattis they broke, 

Through the surging cannon-smoke, 
And they drove the foe before like frightened cattle ! 

Oh ! but never wound was his ; 

For in other wars than this, 
"Where the volleys of Life's conflict roar and rattle, 

He must still, as he was wont, 

In the front bear the brunt 
Of the battle. 

He shall guide the van of Truth ! 
And in manhood, as in youth, 



54 THE FLOWER OE LIBERTY. 

Be her fearless, be her peerless, Color-bearer! 

"With his high and bright example, 

Like a banner brave and ample, 
Ever leading, through receding clouds of Error, 

To the empire of the Strong; 

And to Wrong he shall long 
Be a terror! 



THE PLOWBB OF LIBERTY. 55 




Jfkcj of % Constellation. 

BT T. BUCHANAN READ. 

HE stars of morn on our banner borne 
With the iris of heaven are blended ; 
The hand of our sires first mingled those fires, 
And by us they shall be defended. 
Then hail the true Red, White, and Blue, — 

The flag of the Constellation! 
It sails, as it sailed by our forefathers hailed, 
O'er battles that made us a nation. 

"What hand so bold as strike from its fold 

One star or one stripe of its brightening! 
For him be those stars each a fiery Mars, 

Each stripe be a terrible lightning: 
Then hail the true Reel, White, and Blue, — 

The flag of the Constellation ! 
It sails, as it sailed by our forefathers hailed, 

O'er battles that made us a nation. 



56 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

Its meteor form shall ride the storm 

Till the fiercest of foes surrender; 
The storm gone by, it shall gild the sky, 

A rainbow of peace and of splendor: 
Then hail the true Reel, White, and Blue, — 

The flag of the Constellation ! 
It sails, as it sailed by our forefathers hailed, 

O'er battles that made us a nation. 

Peace to the world is our motto unfurled, 

Though we shun not the field that is gory : 
At home or abroad, fearing none but our God, 

We will carve our own pathway to glory. 
Then hail the true Red, White, and Blue, - — 

The flag of the Constellation ! 
It sails, as its sailed by our forefathers hailed, 

O'er battles that made us a nation. 



THE PLOWEE OF LIBERTY. .IT 



feace. 



BY H. E. I'lIEsf'iiTT. 



m 



II that the bells, in all the silent spires, 

"Would clash their clangor on the sleeping air. 
Ring their wild music out with throbbing choirs, 
Ring peace in everywhere ! 



Oh that this wave of sorrow surging o'er 

The red, red land, would wash away its stain, 
Drown out the angry fires from shore to shore, 
And give us peace again ! 

On last year's blossoming graves, with summer calms, 

Lond in his happy tangle hums the bee ; 
]STature forgets her hurt and finds her balms, — 
Alas ! and why not we? 

Spirit of God, that moved upon the face 

Of the waters, and bade ancient chaos cease, 
Shine, shine again o'er this tumultuous space, 
Thou that art Prince of Peace ! 



58 THE FLOWEE OF LIBERT Y. 



CIj* Jf%. 



BY JULIA WARD HOWE. 




HERE'S a flag hangs over my threshold, whose 
folds are more dear to me 
Than the blood that thrills in my bosom its ear- 
nest of liberty ; 
And dear are the stars it harbors in its sunny field of 

blue 
As the hope of a further heaven, that lights all our dim 
lives through. 

But now, should my guests be merry, the house is in 

holiday guise, 
Looking out through its burnished windows like a score 

of welcoming eyes. 
Come hither, my Brothers who Avander, in saintliness and 

in sin; 
Come hither, ye pilgrims of ^Nature ! my heart doth invite 

you in. 

My wine is not of the choicest, yet bears it an honest 

brand ; 
And the bread that I bid you lighten, I break with no 

sparing hand. 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 59 

But pause, ere you pass to taste it: one act must accom- 
plished be 1 . — 
Salute the flag in its virtue, before ye sit down with me. 

The flag of our stately battles, not struggles of wrath 

and greed; 
Its stripes were a holy lesson, its spangles a deathless 

creed. 
'Twas red with the blood of freemen, and white with the 

fear of the foe ; 
And the stars that fight in their courses 'gainst tyrants 

its symbols know. 

Come hither, thou son of my mother ! Ave were reared in 

the self-same arms; 
Thou hast many a pleasant gesture, thy mind hath its 

gifts and charms. 
But my heart is as stern to question as- my eyes are of 

sorrows full: 
Salute the flag in its virtue, or pass on where others rule. 

Thou lord of a thousand acres, with heaps of uncounted 

gold, 
The steeds of thy stall are haughty, thy lackeys cunning 

and bold. 



60 THE FLOWER OE LIBERTY. 

I envy no jot of thy splendor, I rail at thy follies none: 
Salute the flag" in its virtue, or leave my poor house 
alone. 

Fair lady with silken flouncings, high waving thy stain- 
less plume, 

"We welcome thee to our banquet, — a flower of costliest 
bloom. 

Let an hundred maids live widowed to furnish thy bridal 
bed; 

But pause where the flag doth question, and bend thy 
triumphant head. 

Take down now your flaunting banner; for a scout comes 

breathless and pale, 
With the terror of death upon him: of failure is all his 

tale. 
" They have fled while the flag waved o'er them ; they've 

turned to the foe their back; 
They are scattered, pursued, and slaughtered; the fields 

are all rout and wrack." 

Pass hence, then, the friends I gathered, a goodly com- 
pany; 
All ye that have manhood in you, go, perish for Liberty: 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 61 

But I and the Babes God gave me will wait with uplifted 
hearts, 

With the firm smile ready to kindle, and the will to per- 
form our parts. 

When the last true heart lies bloodless, when the fierce 

and false have won, 
I'll press in turn to my bosom each daughter and either 

son; 
Bid them loose the flag from its bearings, and we'll lie 

down to rest 
"With the glory of home about us, and its freedom locked 

in our breast. 



62 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 



#ur #uibiiT0 Stars.' 



BY ORPHEUS C. KERR. 




}HE planets of our flag are set 
In God's eternal blue sublime; 
Creation's world-wide starry stripe 
Between the banner'd days of time. 



Upon the sky's divining- scroll, 
In burning punctuation borne, 

They shape the sentence of the night 
That prophesies a cloudless morn. 

The waters free their mirrors are; 

And fair with equal light they look 
Upon the royal ocean's breast, 

And on the humble mountain brook. 



Though each distinctive as the soul 
Of some new world not yet begun, 

In bright career their courses blend 
Round Liberty's unchanging sun. 




,, 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 63 

Thus ever shine, ye stars, for all ! 

And palsied be the hand that harms 
Earth's pleading signal to the skies, 

And Heaven's immortal coat of arms. 



64 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 




BY JOHN NEAL. 

JHERE'S a fierce gray Bird with a sharpened beak, 
With an angry eye and a startling shriek, 

I That nurses her brood where the cliff-flowers blow, 
On the precipice top, in perpetual snow, 
Where the fountains are mute or in secrecy flow; 
That sits where the air is shrill and bleak, 
On the splintered point of a shivered peak; 
Where the weeds lie close, and the grass sings sharp 
To a comfortless tune, like a wintry harp : 
Bald-headed and stripped, like a vulture torn 
By wind and strife, with her feathers worn 
And ruffled and stained; while scattering, bright, 
Round her serpent neck, all writhing and bare, 
Runs a crimson collar of gleaming hair ! 
Like the crest of a warrior thinned in the fight, 
And shorn and bristling: — see her, where 
She sits in the glow of the sunbright air ! 




THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 65 

With wing half poised, and talons bleeding, 

And kindling eye, as if her prey 

Had suddenly been snatched away. 
While she was tearing it, and feeding. 

Above the dark torrent, above the bright stream, 
The swift ruddy fount, with the changeable gleam, 
Where the lustre of heaven eternally plays, 
The voice may be heard of the Thunderous Bird 
Calling out to her god in a clear wild scream, 
As he mounts to his throne and unfolds in his beam ; 
While her young are laid out in his rich red blaze, 
And their winglets are fledged in his hottest rays. 

O ye that afar in the blue air have heard, 
As out of the sky, the approach of that Bird ! 
Have ye seen her, half famished, and up and away, 
Her wings in a blaze with the shedding of day, — 
Like a vulture on fire ! in the track of her prey ? 






66 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 



"tymfax fopIV 



Y JOHN G. WHITTIEK. 




HY ask for ease where all is pain ? 
Shall ive alone 
Be left to add our gain to gain 
When over Armageddon's plain 
The trump is blown? 

The levelled gun, the battle-brand, 

We may not take ; 
But, calmly loyal, we can stand 
And suffer with our suffering land 

For conscience' sake. 

And we can tread the sick-bed floors 

Where strong men pine, 
And down the groaning corridors 
Pour freely from our liberal stores 

The oil and wine. 

And small shall seem all sacrifice, 

All pain and loss, 
When God shall wipe the weeping eyes, 
For suffering give the victor's prize, 

The crown for cross ! 




;..;*<■";;■;,'-' -■ -■■M.\-r--v ;-■:.-:-: 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 67 



She loo of fab (Erie. 



BY HEXRY THEODORE TUCKER MAX. 



WN a green knoll in yonder field of graves, 
w§ | Where the rank grass o'er mound and tablet 

iH 

A granite shaft allures the vagrant eye 

To where the ashes of a hero lie. 

This briny air, in its perennial sweep, 

Xerved his young frame to conquer on the deep : 

Around these shores, a boy, with sportive ease, 

He trimmed his shallop to the wayward breeze ; 

A i carl ess athlete, in his summer play, 

He clove the surf of this unrivalled bay; 

Trod the lone cliff where storm-lashed billows roll, 

To see the rocks their baffled rage control, 

( )r watch their serried ranks majestic pour 

A ceaseless tribute on his native shore. 

The snowy fringes on each leaping surge, 

Like victor's wreaths, heroic purpose urge; 

In their wild roar the deadly charge he hears, 

Feels in their spray a nation's grateful tears ; 



68 THE FLOWER OE LIBERTY. 

The mellow sunsets, whose emblazoned crest 
With purple radiance flushes all the west, 
Like glory's banner, to his vision spread, 
To guide the living, consecrate the dead ! 

His boyhood thus by winds and waves beguiled, 
Here Nature cradled her intrepid child; 
"Won his clear gaze to scan the horizon wall, 
His heart with ocean's heart to rise and foil, 
His ear to drink the music of the gale, 
His pulse to leap with the careering sail, 
His brow the landscape's open look to wear, 
His eye to freshen in this ciystal air: 
Braced by her rigors, melted by her smile, 
She reared the hero of her peerless isle. 

Then went he forth, — not like a knight of old, 
Armed at all points, with veterans enrolled ; 
But in the strength of a devoted will, 
A martyr's patience, and a patriot's skill. 
~No fleet was his whose guns and pennons bore 
The tested might of conquests won of yore : 
The trees whose shadow played o'er Erie's wave 
Were felled and launched, — a rampart for the brave; 
The oak that stretched its leafy branches there, 
And dallied lightly with the autumn air, 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 09 

One morn, a sturdy bulwark of the free, 
Floated, the empress of that inland sea ! 
No gray survivors of the battle's wreck 
Manned the rude ports of her unpolished deck; 
Destined to grapple with a practised foe, 
The will to fight is all her champions know. 

Sublime the pause, when, down the gleaming tide, 
The virgin galleys to the conflict glide: 
The very wind, as if in awe or grief, 
Scarce wakes a ripple or disturbs a leaf. 
The lighted brand; the piles of iron hail; 
The boatswain's whistle and the fluttering sail; 
The thick-strewn sand beneath their noiseless tread, 
To drink the gallant blood as yet unshed; 
The long-drawn breath; the glance of mutual cheer, 
Eager with hope, oblivious of fear; 
"Valor's stern mood ; affection's pensive sigh, — 
Alone declare relentless havoc nigh. 
Behold the chieftain's glad, prophetic smile, 
As a new banner he unrolls the while ; 
Hear the gay shout of his elated crew. 
When the dear watchword hovers to their view, 
And Lawrence, silent in the arms of death, 
Bequeathes defiance with his latest breath.* 

* Just before the action, a flag with the motto, "Don't give up the sliip!" 
was hoisted. 



70 THE FLOWER OP LIBERTY. 

Why to one point turns every graceful prow? 
"What scares the eagle from his lonely bough? 

A bugle-note far through the welkin rings, 
From ship to ship its airy challenge flings, 
Then round each hull the murky war-clouds loom, 
The lightnings glare, the sullen thunders boom; 
Peal follows peal, and, with each lurid flash, 
The tall masts shiver, and the bulwarks crash; 
The shrouds hang loose, the decks are wet with gore, 
And dying shrieks resound along the shore. 
As fall the bleeding victims, one by one, 
Their messmates rally to the smoking gun; 
As the maimed forms are sadly borne away 
From the fierce carnage of that murderous fray, 
A fitful joy lights up each drooping eye 
To see the starry banner floating high, 
Or mark their unharmed leader's dauntless air 
(His life enfolded in his loved one's prayer) : * 
Pity and high resolve his bosom rend, 
" ]^ot o'er my head shall that bright flag descend ! " 
"With brief monition, from the hulk he springs, 
For a fresh deck his rapid transit wings ; 
Back to the strife exultant shapes his way, 
Again to test the fortunes of the day. 

* Perry said, after his miraculous escape, that he owed liis life to his wife's 
prayers. 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 71 

As bears the noble consort slowly down. 
Portentous now her teeming cannon frown. 
List to the volleys that incessant break 
The ancient silence of that border lake ! 
As lifts the smoke, what tongue can fitly tell 
The transports which those manly bosoms swell, 
When Britain's ensign down the reeling mast 
Sinks, to proclaim the desperate struggle past ! 
Electric cheers along the shattered fleet, 
With rapturous hail her youthful hero greet. 
Meek in his triumph, as in danger calm, 
With reverent hand he takes the victor's palm ; 
His wreath of conquest on Faith's altar lays,* 
To his brave comrades yields the meed of praise ; 
With Mercy's balm allays the captive's woe, 
And wrings oblation from his vanquished foe ! 

While Erie's currents lave her winding shore, 
Or down the crags a rushing torrent pour, 
While floats Columbia's standard to the breeze, 
]No blight shall wither laurels such as these ! 



* " It has pleased the Almighty to grant to the arms of the United States 
signal victory, " &c. — Perry's Despatch. 






72 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 



fffee #%. 



BY GEORGE H. BOKER. 




PIEITS of patriots, hail in heaven again 
The flag for which ye fought and died, 
~Now that its field, washed clear of every stain, 
Floats out in honest pride ! 



Free blood flows through its scarlet veins once more, 

And brighter shine its silver bars ; 
A deeper blue God's ether never wore 

Amongst the golden stars. 

See how our earthly constellation gleams ! 

And backward, flash for flash, returns 
Its heavenly sisters their immortal beams, 

With light that fires and burns, — 

That burns because a moving soul is there, 

A living force, a shaping will, 
"Whose law the fate-forecasting powers of air 

Acknowledge and fulfil ! 



THE FLOWEJR OF LIBERTY. 73 

At length the day, by prophets seen of old, 
Flames on the crimsoned battle-blade; 

Henceforth, O flag! no mortal bought and sold 
►Shall crouch beneath thy shade. 

That shame has vanished in the darkened past, 

With all the chaotic wrongs 
That held the struggling centuries shackled fast 

With fear's accursed thongs. 

Therefore, O patriot fathers ! in your eyes 

I brandish thus our banner pure : 
Watch o'er us, bless us, from your peaceful skies, 

And make the issue sure ! 



74 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 



Sinn jof Stale. 



HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. 




1HOU, too, sail on, O Ship of State ! 
Sail on, O Union ! strong and great : 
Humanity, with all its fears, 
"With all the hopes of future years, 
Is hanging breathless on thy fate ! 
We know what master laid thy keel, 
What workmen wrought thy ribs of steel, 
Who made each mast and sail and rope, 
What anvils rang, what hammers beat, 
In what a forge and what a heat 
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope. 
Fear not each sudden sound and shock: 
'Tis of the wave, and not the rock; 
'Tis but the napping of the sail, 
And not a rent made by the gale. 
In spite of rock and tempest's roar, 
In spite of false lights on the shore, 
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea: 
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, 
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, 
Are all with thee, — are all with thee ! 



V& 






% 




THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 75 



ational 3intbcm: 6ofr of ibt <f«e. 

BY WILLIAM ROSS "WALLACE. 
Air, " Old EunJretL" 




OD of the Free ! upon thy breath 

Our Flag* is still for Ki°iit unfurled, 
^ As broad and brave as when its stars 
First lit the darkness of the world. 

For Duty still its folds shall stream, 
For Honor still its glories burn; 

"While Truth, Religion, Valor, guard 
The patriot's sword and martyr's urn. 

How glorious is our mission here ! 

Heirs of a virgin world are we, — 
The chartered lords whose lightnings tame 

The rock} 7 mount and roaring sea. 

Xo tyrant's impious step is ours, 
No lust of power on nations rolled: 

Our Flag for friends a starry sky ; 
For traitors, storms in every fold. 



76 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

Oh, thus we'll keep the Nation's life, 
Nor fear the bolts by despots hurled ! 

The blood of all the world is here, 

And they who strike us, strike the world. 

No Slavery shall blast our clime; 

But evermore, on wave and sod, 
Only one Sovereign's shadow fall, — 

The golden shadow cast by God. 

God of the Free ! our Nation bless 
In its strong manhood as its birth, 

And make its life a Star of Hope 
For all the struggling of the Earth. 

Then, shout beside thine Oak, O North ! 

O South, wave answer with thy Palm! 
All in our Union's heritage 

Together sing the Nation's psalm ! 



i 



TllK FLOWEK OF LIBERTY. 77 



mn Jf% 



Y LrCY 1ARCO M. 



m 



|ET it idly droop, or sway 

To the wind's light will; 
3 Furl -its stars, or float in day ; 
Flutter, or be still ! 
It has held its colors bright 

Through the war-smoke dun ; 
Spotless emblem of the Right, 
Whence success was won. 

Let it droop in graceful rest 

For a passing hour, — 
Glory's banner, last and best; 

Freedom's freshest flower ! , 
Each red stripe has blazoned forth 

Gospels writ in blood; 
Every star has sung the birth 

Of some deathless good. 



78 THE EEOWEE OF LIBERTY. 

Let it droop, but not too long ! 

On the eager wind 
Bid it wave, to shame the wrong, - 

To inspire mankind 
"With a larger human love, 

With a truth as true 
As the heaven that broods above 

Its deep field of blue. 

In the gathering hosts of hope, 

In the march of man, 
Open for it place and scope : 

Bid it lead the van, 
Till beneath the searching skies 

Martyr-blood be found 
Purer than our sacrifice 

Crying from the ground; 

Till a flag with some new light 

Out of Freedom's sky 
Kindles through the gulfs of nigh 

Glory yet more high. 
Let its glow the darkness drown ! 

Give our banner sway 
Till its joyful stars go down 

In undreamed-of day ! 



THE FLOWEK OF LIBERTY. 79 



Mu an. 



WILLIAM WINTER. 




HE apples are ripe in the orchard ; 
The work of the reaper is done ; 
And the golden woodlands redden 
In the blood of the dying snn. 

At the cottage-door the grandsire 
Sits, pale, in his easy chair, 

While the gentle wind of twilight 
Plays with his silver hair. 

A woman is kneeling beside him : 
A fair young head is prest, 

In the first wild passion of sorrow, 
Against his aged breast; 

While far from over the distance 
The faltering echoes come 

Of the flying blast of trumpet 
And the rattling; roll of drum. 



80 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

Then the grandsire speaks, in a whisper, 
" The end no man can see; ' 

Bnt we give him to his country, 

And we give our pikers to Thee." . . 



The violets star the meadows, 

The rosebuds fringe the door, 
And over the grassy orchard 

The pink-white blossoms ponr. 

But the grandsire's chair is empty; 

The cottage is dark and still; 
There's a nameless grave in the battle-field, 

And a new one under the hill ; 

And a pallid, tearless woman 

By the cold hearth sits, alone; 
And the old clock in the corner 

Ticks on with a steady drone. 



THE FLOWER OF LIBEPtTY. 81 



W 



Cbc Wimtm, — Bight or Wlxaxx%. 



BY GEORGE P. MORRIS. 



^gnGS" Freedom's name our blades we draw; 



h i'M ^ ie arms iis ^° r tne fight : 



For country, government, and law, 
" For Liberty and Right. 
The Union must — shall be preserved; 

Our flag still o'er us fly: 
That cause our hearts and hands has nerved, 

And we will do or die ! 

Then come, ye hardy volunteers, 

Around our standard throng; 
And pledge man's hope of coming years, — 

The Union, — right or wrong ! 
The Union — right or wrong — inspires 

The burden of our song: 
It was the glory of our sires, — 

The Union, — right or wrong ! 



82 THE FLOWER OE LIBERTY. 

It is the duty of us all 

To check rebellion's sway; 
To rally at the nation's call, — 

And we that voice obey. 
Then, like a band of brothers, go., 

A hostile league to break; 
To rout a spoil-encumbered foe, 

And what is ours retake. 

So come, ye hardy volunteers, 

Around our standard throng, 
And pledge man's hope of coming years, 

The Union, — right or wrong ! 
The Union — right or wrong — inspires 

The burden of our song: 
It was the glory of our sires, — 

The Union, — right or wrong ! 



THE FLOWEE OF LIBERTY. 83 



Cbc flag. 



BY B. P. SHILLABEK, 



W^v^OT most, 'mid native airs outthrown. 
9J Of war or peace, our pride inflames 
J For that dear flas; whose sway we own. 



That our devoted homage claims. 

Although its bright and airy folds 

Float from the mast in pictured grace, 

Xot there alone its glory holds. 
In loving eyes, its highest place. 

But where it streams, "neath foreign skies. 
Our nation's emblematic sign, 

To fainting hearts and dimming eyes 
Its stripes and stars are most divine. 

The failing pulse exults once more, 
Like to a harp but newly strung, 

If to the airs that waft us o'er 
The blazoned gossamer is flung. 



84: THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

'Tis then, forgetting care and pain, 

A momentary joy inures, 
And, 'neath its precious folds again 

Is virtue of a thousand cures. 

Ah ! priceless is its value, where 

The heart in dark desponding gropes; 

"When failing health installs despair 
Upon the graves of ruined hopes : 

'Tis then a wave of wafted love 

From those most precious to our eyes, 

A gleam of glory from above, 
A gonfalon of Paradise. 



m 






* * 

* 






********* 

V* * V*** * * 




THE FLOWEK <>F LIBERTY. 85 



tfte farub aroD its ftlemoncs. 

BY CHARLES T. BROOKS. 

^j— | ROM Dan to Beersheba of this our land 
a fgw) Of promise have I passed, from strand to strand; 
Have seen the moon o'er Campo Bello rise, 

And watched the sun in far South-western sides, 

What time his fiery axle, wheeling slow, 

Si < >od on the reddening Gulf of Mexico. 

Slowly I've labored, with the panting steam, 

Up Mississippi's tortuous, turbid stream, 

"Where, at each bend, each wood-crowned sweep, behold 

Sea after sea its noble bays unfold ! 

There, in the glimmering dusk, when far-off trees 

Like spectres stand, the cheated vision sees 

Strange shows of fleets and fleet-girt cities, rife 

With all the stir of busy human life. 

Mark, as by magic, Orient Stamboul rise ! 

Its bristling masts, a forest, meet your eyes, 

"Where, half of sight and half of fancy born, 

Wind the bright waters of the Golden Horn. 



86 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

And now, 'mid hoary, reverend groves we glide, 
Where Gunga's thousand islets break the tide ; 
Where, robed with pendant moss, the aged trees 
Stand like the priests of Nature's mysteries. 
Fades each fair vision with a pnff of steam, 
As onward still we labor np the stream. 
But, lo ! where, in her stateliness and pride, 
Looks out o'er all the valley, far and wide, 
That young queen city, " throned by the West," 
What visions of the future fire the breast ! 
Eastward she looks; and seems, with noble eye, 
Her proud Atlantic sisters to defy, 
And glow in the great race and rivalry. 
With reverent step and swelling heart I've pressed 
The boundless prairie of the teeming West; 
And where the northern lakes, a mighty chain, 
Stretch their bright links along our vast domain, 
There have I travelled, — there, transported, seen 
Blue inland oceans, piny oceans green. 
And where New England's Alps majestic rise, 
I've climbed that rocky island in the skies, 
Wnence, seen afar, our noble rivers glance 
Like threads of silver in the broad expanse ; 
And where earth seems a living map — no more — 
Dotted with towns, with forests speckled o'er. 
And I have stood, and felt a nameless tin-ill 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 87 

Of reverence and rapture, on the hill. 

Where, calmly looking down on the fair shore 

( >f Chesapeake and stately Baltimore, 

In emblematic, marble majesty. 

Stands Washington, " in the clear, upper sky," 

And breathes his benediction. 

Have not we 
A goodly heritage from sea to sea, 
From lake to gulf ? What noble rivers pour 
Their inland tribute to the extended shore ! 
O'er rolling upland and on waving plain, 
By town and farm, what peace and plenty reign ! 
And must the day come when fraternal war 
Shall rend our mighty empire, star from star? 
Or (worse) Corruption's canker eat the chain 
]STo earthly arm had power to snap in twain? 
Must the day come, when over freemen's graves 
Their shameless sons shall walk, the slaves of slaves? 
When the proud flag, wdiose field of starry blue 
Tells of the sky, whence our young Freedom drew 
Her life's first breath, — the flag, whose stripes of red 
Tell of the brave who at her summons bled, — 
Shall droop inglorious, or dishonored lie, 
A taunt, a jest, a sign of infamy? 
Benignant Heaven, forbid ! and ye, whose dust 
Our soil, " from Maine to Georgia," holds in trust ! 



88 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

Forbid it, living sons of those dead sires, 

"Who lit on Freedom's heights the morn- watch- fires, 

Whose heart's blood, when they fell, enriched the sod, 

And scattered seed of valor far abroad, 

That, mouldering in full many a furrow, lies, 

Our nobler harvest, ripening for the skies! 

Gone is the day when our young eagle heard 

The cry of war, and in his eyrie stirred; 

When Quincy saw the blood-red dawning nigh, 

And Warren, at the call, made haste to die; 

When Otis, Adams, fanned the kindling flame, 

And Hancock pledged a patriot merchant's name; 

Gone is the day, — compatriots, never more 

May dawn its like ! — when, ghastly-red with gore, 

Yon altar-height the smoke of sacrifice 

Sent up, in summer sunlight, to the skies. 

Gone is the day; and, oh, not soon may men 

Beat back the ploughshare to a sword again ! 

Yet warfare, brothers, is our honored lot, 

A warfare that, while life lasts, endeth not. 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 89 




%mmm. 

BY CHARLES K. TUCKERMAN. 

X pride of youth and high behests, 
She stands magnificently fair; 
For honor heaves her mountain breasts, 
And freedom lifts her forest hair : 
Like one she looks, who, fresh from strife. 

Feels on his brow the wreath of fame 
Press fresh ambition into life, 

Fresh need to wear a deathless name. 

In face a child; in mien a queen; 

Unlineaged, yet of high degree, — 
One feels a crown would but demean, 

And rank a less condition be. 
Hers is the diadem of respect, 

The sceptre of the innate will ; 
Her task a nation to erect, 

A destiny sublime fulfil. 



90 THE FLOW1E OF LIBERTY. 

As roams the restless eagle's eye 

That cleaves an azure realm new found, 
Uncertain whether next to fly, 

Discerning not a final bound, 
She gazes on her fair estate, 

Then shakes the hands of either sea, 
And, through the elemental great, 

Forefeels the greatness yet to be. 

Exultingly she waves her stars, 

And stands transfigured to her feet : 
]STo more red War her glory mars, 

And dims a vision else complete. 
Transfigured to her feet she stands, — 

Those feet where late the strangled veins 
Ran blackened blood, and iron bands 

Mocked at the cursed clank of chains ! 

Oh, sad sweet feet! oh, pitiless chains, 

Sad relic of a former fate ! 
Freedom's foul fetters — slavery's gains — 

Dwarfing the else transcendent great. 
Long did ye wear them ; ah, too long ! 

Proud limbs bowed down with sin and shame, 
Weak where thy nature made thee strong, 

Nameless where most deserved a name. 



THE FLOWEK OF LIBERTY. 91 

And who shall east thorn off, and when?" 

Long, long did wisdom seek in vain; 
And weary heart and voice and pen 

Asked it, and asked it yet again. 
Bnt they shall ask it never more : 

His answer shook the land and sea; 
Peace rode upon the wings of War, 

And God hath set the Nation free. 

Aye free, great land, from South to North, 

From lake to gulf, from coast to coast ! 
Thy vaunted liberty henceforth 

Shall be no more an empty boast: 
Yet guard it with a faithful hand, — 

Let not the Spirit mock the Form; 
Watch w r ell the winds that sweep the land, 

From baffling breeze to sudden storm. 

Advance thy stately standard high, 

Till, in each white and ruddy line, 
The far-off nations can descry 

A holy hope, a saving sign. 
Advance it till the mingling rays 

Of new-born stars crowd out the night, 
Making the azure field one blaze 

Of inextinguishable light. 



92 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 



Moimbrtr xxnto <§tnfy. 



BY CHARLES A. BARRY. 



I! 



FEW steps more; just down by the bushes; 
And then, — the prayer that's haunting my 
lips, — 
"Will they mind it up yonder, when my soul pushes 

Out o' this suddenly awful eclipse? 
There goes the surgeon : no need to hail him, — 

I'm safe for a dead 'mi at next roll-call. 
This is a job that would certainly fail him: 
Give me a drink, Jack, — Lord help us all ! 

Never a saint, and it's no use whining: 

I've got to travel, — I'll do my best ; 
The game's played out, and there's no divining 

What'll become o' me and the rest. 
I'm wishing the parson was here to cheer me, 

For it's little o' Christian speech I know. 
If s coming ! — if only she was near me, 

(God bless her!) I'd be willing to go. 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 93 

All the long night, lad, I lay a dreaming, — 

A dream that stuck like a stab in my brain. 
I told the boys under the bayonets gleaming, 

This morning, Fd never be with 'em again: 
They called me a muff, and swore I was shamming, — 

Quick came the tears, spite of all I could do, — 
Lord ! when they saw me led out, there was damning : 

I'll bet you they missed me, an' pitied me too. 

Drop me down in this bed o' sweet clover. 

Thanks : cut the rigging off o' my breast. 
Bide a bit, comrade : 'twill shortly be over, — 

To-morrow I'll camp in the land o' the blest. 
Yon goes a shell ! — that's jolly good humming ! 

Over the hill the old gal breaks : 
Lift me a little, — death surely is coming ! 

Give us your fist, — see how my hand shakes ! 

'Twas only a faint ! — not much in a hurry 

Above there, I take it, for fellows like me. 
Listen, old chap : you'll see that they bury 

This body o' mine right decently; 
And comfort the old folks, — worse than the darting 

Pain o' this bullet's the thought o' that blow. 
God help 'em! and keep 'em through the long parting! 

I shall see 'em on t'other side, you know ! 



94 THE ELOWEB OF LIBERTY. 

And here's the traps I intrust to your keeping : 

Her letters (the portrait must go, Jack, with me) ! 
Ah, lad, there'll be plenty o' wailing and weeping 

In the old homestead down by the sea ! 
But tell 'em I died with th' harness all on me, 

In th' face o' th' foe, in the heat o' the blast, 
"With never a stain of dishonor upon me : 

You'll tell 'em, dear Jack, I was true to the last. 

For we two have toted like brothers together, 

Hard-tack and water, this many a day. 
Did ever I show the least bit o' white feather? 

Bully for you ! — I thought 'twould be nay. 
Battle and march and civic procession! 

Steady, boys ! — give 'em a touch o' the steel ! 
Here, at the end of a soger's profession, 

'Tis the Red, White, and Blue, come woe or come weal. 

It's getting dark, and I'm oif for certain ! 

Kiss me, dear Jack, for I cannot see : 
I'm called this time, and they'll drop the curtain, 

As sure as shooting, betwixt you and me. 
Ah, well ! they'll give me a place, I reckon, 

Among the boys that have gone before ! 
Good-by, good-by, old fellow ! they beckon — 

The angels — on the opposite shore ! 



THE FLO WE K OF LI15EKTY. 95 




Cbe (Pto §E« (Loaf. 

BY BISHOP BURGESS O 1' MAI N E . 

OU asked me, little one, why I bowed, 
Though never I passed the man before? 
Because my heart was full and proud 
When I saw the old blue coat he wore : 
The blue great-coat, the sky-blue coat, 
The old blue coat the soldier wore. 

I know not, I, what weapon he chose, 

What chief he followed, what badge he bore; 
Enough that, in the front of foes, 

His country's blue great-coat he wore: 
The blue great-coat, the sky-blue coat, 
The old blue coat the soldier wore. 

Perhaps he was born in a forest-hut ; 

Perhaps he had danced on a palace-floor; 
To want or wealth my eyes were shut, 
I only marked the coat he wore : 

The blue great-coat, the sky-blue coat, 
The old blue coat the soldier wore. 



96 THE ELOWER OF LIBERTY. 

It mattered not much if he drew his line 

From Shem or Ham in the days of yore; 
For surely he was a brother of mine, 
Who for my sake the war-coat wore : 
The blue great-coat, the sky-blue coat, 
The old blue coat the soldier wore. 

He might have no skill to read or write, 

Or he might be rich in learned lore; 
But I knew he could make his mark in fight: 
And nobler gown no scholar wore 

Than the blue great-coat, the sky-blue coat, 
The old blue coat the soldier wore. 

It may be he could plunder and prowl, 

And perhaps, in his mood, he scoffed and swore; 
But I would not guess a spot so foul 
On the honored coat he bravely wore : 
The blue great-coat, the sky-blue coat, , 
The old blue coat the soldier wore. 

He had worn it long, and borne it far; 

And perhaps, on the red Virginian shore, 
From midnight chill till the morning star, 
That warm great-coat the sentry wore: 
The blue great-coat, the sky-blue coat, 
The old blue coat the soldier wore. 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 97 

"When hardy Butler reined his steed 

Through the streets of proud, proud Baltimore, 
Perhaps behind him, at his need, 
Marched he who yonder blue coat wore : 
The blue great-coat, the sky-blue coat, 
The old blue coat the soldier wore. 

Perhaps it was seen in Burnside's ranks, 

When Rappahannock ran dark with gore ; 
Perhaps on the mountain-side with Banks, 
In the burning sun, no more he wore 
The blue great-coat, the sky-blue coat, 
The old blue coat the soldier wore. 

Perhaps in the swamps 'twas a bed for his form, 

From the seven days' battling and marching sore; 
Or with Kearney and Pope, 'mid the steely storm, 
As the night closed in, that coat he wore : 
The blue great-coat, the sky-blue coat, 
The old blue coat the soldier wore. 

Or when right over him Jackson dashed, 

That collar or cape some bullet tore ; 
Or when far ahead Antietam flashed, 

He flung to the ground the coat that he wore : 
The blue great-coat, the sky-blue coat, 
The old blue coat the soldier wore. 



98 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

Or stood at Gettysburg, where the graves 

Rang deep to Howard's cannon roar; 
Or saw with Grant the unchained waves, 
Where conquering hosts the blue coat wore: 
The blue great-coat, the sky-blue coat, 
The old blue coat the soldier wore. 

That garb of honor tells enough, 

Though I its story guess no more; 
The heart it covers is made of such stuff, 

That the coat is mail which that soldier wore : 
The blue great-coat, the sky-blue coat, 
The old blue coat the soldier wore. 

He may hang it up when the peace shall come, 
And the moths may find it behind the door; 
But his children will point, when they hear a drum, 
To the proud old coat their father wore: 
The blue great-coat, the sky-blue coat, 
The old blue coat the soldier wore. 

And so, my child, will you and I, 

For whose fair home their blood they pour, 
Still bow the head, as one goes by 

Who wears the coat that soldier wore: 
That blue great-coat, the sky-blue coat, 
The old blue coat the soldier wore. 



THE FLOWEB <>K LIBEBTT. 99 



Cbe (Ernptn ^ lectio. 



BY DAVID B.MIKl.l;. 



Inscribed to General Howard, of Maine, who lost his right arm in defence of his 
country. 




Y the moon's pale light, to a gazing throng- 
Let me tell one tale, let me sing one song: 
"Tis a tale devoid of an aim or plan ; 
"Tis a simple song of a one-arm man. 

Till this very hour, I could ne'er believe 
What a tell-tale thing is an empty sleeve ; 
What a wierd, queer thing is an empty sleeve. 

It tells, in a silent tone, to all 
Of a country's need and a country's call; 
Of a Mss and a tear for a child and wife, 
And a hurried march for a nation's life. 

Till this very hour, who could e'er believe 
What a tell-tale thing is an empty sleeve; 
What a wierd, queer thing is an empty sleeve? 



100 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

It tells of a battle-field of gore, 
Of the sabre's clash, of the cannon's roar; 
Of the deadly charge, of the bugle's note, 
Of a gurgling sound in a foeman's throat; 
Of the whizzing grape, of the fiery shell, 
Of a scene which mimics the scenes of hell. 
Till this very hour, would you e'er believe 
What a tell-tale thing is an empty sleeve; 
What a wierd, queer thing is an empty sleeve? 

Though it points to a myriad wounds and scars, 
Yet it tells that a flag with the stripes and stars 
In God's own chosen time will take 
Each place of the rag with the rattlesnake: 
And it points to a time when that flag shall wave 
O'er a land where there breathes no cowering slave. 
To the top of the skies let us all then heave 
One proud huzza for the empty sleeve; 
For the one-arm man, and the empty sleeve. 



Note. — The foregoing was written one moonlight evening while General 
Howard was addressing a large throng from the steps of the Bangor House, and 
his empty sleeve was every now and then floating on the breeze. — D. B. 



UNIO/v 




THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 101 



(Pur Jlajj. 



OSPHEC, 



Sj^=^|||LAG of my country! Standard of the free 
n E^MJ In every land where dwelleth Liberty! 
***&**** Thou fairest page the eye of Light can find, 
Turned by the quivering fingers of the wind; 
Charter of Hope by God to mortals given, 
Bright with the planetary pomp of heaven ; 
Still to the patriot a recorded prayer, 
Lingering in sweet suspense upon the air, — 
Let me within thy broad protection stand. 
And read thine honors for my native land. 

As from the shattered temple of the storm 
Springs the grand arch of light in fairest form, 
Splits the black dome 'mid distant thunder's din, 
And, through the shadows, lets the sunshine in ; 
So thou, my country's banner, didst arise 
From a dead storm whose battles shook the sides, — 
Rose, like the coming day's memorial shield, 
From a red sunset's torn and bleeding- field, 



102 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

Dipped in the starry mine, whose clusters bright, 
Drawn to a Union, beamed the perfect light. 

Born of the battle, nursling of the wind, 

Symbol of strength unfurled for all mankind, 

Through the dark hour that brings our brothers' shame, 

Still from our altars rise, a beacon flame, 

Pride of the air! Thou solitary spar 

Cast to the sea, whose waves the whirlwinds are, 

Scarce the faint wretch thy signal stars descries 

When a neAV life is kindled in his eyes: 

Served with a might dividing fates to dare, 

Boldly he cleaves the billows of despair, 

Clasps thee in triumph to his heaving breast, 

And drifts securely to a haven rest. 

Proudest of flags that mount the giddy mast, 
Coy to the breeze, defiant to the blast, 
Blazoned aloft in every zone and clime, 
Sheath for the sword, or badge for harvest time; 
Spread at command of cannon's deadly throat; 
Fluttering in play to merman's liquid note, — 
Whether thy hues in polar vapors freeze, 
Or blend with sunset on the Southern seas, 
Still thy broad folds shake deathless honors down 
On the free head too proud to wear a crow a; 



TELE PLOWEB OF LIBERTY. 103 

Still to God's image, be he bond or free, 
Thou art a birthright of Equality! 

And shall this sacred leaf in Glory's tome, 
Plucked from the volume storying Nature's dome, 
And a great Nation's grand appeal to God 
For* the blest power to break a tyrant's rod, 
Be by the hands of its own bearers riven, — 
Torn and despoiled the heraldry of heaven? 
At the fell thought, what darkness falls around ! 
See the red streams flow gurgling from the ground ! 
Blood of our fathers, hallowing every spot, 
Are the grand lives poured out in thee forgot? 
Shades of the mighty ! can thy dead eyes see 
Brother to brother curse thy legacy? 

Hark! from the North what sullen murmurs come! 
And from the South wells up a mournful hum; 
Soft through the East the muffled drums resound, 
And in the West a dead command goes round. 
Hark to the tramp of ghostly armies four, 
Through the long grass bedewed with heroes' gore ! 
From the red hill where AVarren's soldiers bled, 
From the dark fens where slumber Marion's dead, 
From the free plains where Scott's battalions fell, 
From the dread field whose tale let Britons tell, — 



104 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

Onward they come, in all the dead array 
Of a slain army on the Judgment-day. 

Well for the land whose maddened sons would dare 

Trample in dust the signet of the air; 

Well for the land whose impious purpose known 

Kobs of its weight the grim funereal stone, — 

That as the hosts, from beds of ages called, 

Turn their pale faces to the sides appalled, 

Full from the nation's Capitolic dome 

Beam the Republic's stars amid the gloom : 

Still they all shine, and still the stripes defend, — 

These for the foe, those for the trusty friend. 

As the dead army mark the starry shrine, 
Sounds of thanksgiving thrill along the line; 
Swiftly the arms to set position come, 
And the salute is answered by the drum; 
Then, as the templed shadows fall away. 
Waves the old Flag in all the glow of day. 
Gone are the hosts, no more to trouble men, 
Till the last trumpet sounds the march again. 

Flag of the Fallen! Standard of the Dead ! 
Thee let me follow with unwavering tread: 
Free from the touch of slave and tyrant fly; 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 105 

And, when thou fadest, let a nation die! 
Bond of the Freeman! sacred with the blood 
Shed by brave men for brave men's noblest good, 
Say to the eye that looks to God and thee 
From a scorned trust, or fell captivity, — 
Stripes for the traitor, foe, and honor's ban; 
Heaven for the patriot and the honest man! 



106 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 




Winxon antr pbertg. 

BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLME-i. 

LAG of the heroes who left us their glory, 
Borne through their battle-fields' thunder and 
flame, 

Blazoned in song, and illumined in story, 
Wave o'er us all who inherit their fame ! 
Up with our banner bright. 
Sprinkled with starry light ; 
Spread its fair emblems from mountain to shore : 
While, through the sounding sky, 
Loud rings the Nation's cry, — 
Union and Liberty ! one evermore ! 

Light of our firmament, guide of our Xation, 

Pride of her children, and honored afar, 
Let the wide beams of thy full constellation 

Scatter each cloud that would darken a star! 
Up with our banner bright, &c. 




PLUR 1*805 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 107 

Empire unsceptred! what foe shall assail thee, 

Bearing the standard of* Liberty's van? 
Think not the God of thy fathers shall fail thee, 

Striving with men for the birthright of man. 
Op with our banner bright, cV:e. 

Yet if, by madness and treachery blighted, 

Dawns the dark hour when the sword thou must draw, 
Then, with the arms to thy millions united, 

Smite the bold traitors to Freedom and Law ! 
Up with our banner bright, &c. 

Lord of the Universe! shield us and guide us, 

Trusting thee always through shadow and sun: 
Thou hast united us, — who shall divide us? 
Keep us, oh keep us, the Many in One! 

Up with our banner bright, 

Sprinkled with starry light; 
Spread its fair emblems from mountain to shore: 

While, through the sounding sky, 

Loud rings the Nation's cry, — 
Union and Liberty ! one evermore! 



108 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 



(Our dToxtntnj. 



BY HARRIET M C E\YKN KI.MKALL. 




EAR Land ! we crown thee with our praise, 

In patriot pride we name thee; 
With loyal lips Ave sing thy lays; 

With swelling hearts we claim thee. 
Yet lofty speech and stirring song 

Alike are unavailing, 
While hands of treachery and wrong 

Thy glory are assailing. 

But loyal steel defends thy fame, 

And writes, in crimson letters, 
A pledge that turns to endless shame 

The threat that Treason utters. 
And, from the loyal cannon's mouth, 

The lightning-flash and thunder 
Repeat to traitors, Xorth and South, 

" The bond ye cannot sunder! " 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 109 

We mourn thy blood-stains. Father-land ! 

But War's wild clash is better 
Than Peace, that yields a craven hand 

To Treason's iron fetter; 
Till from Xew England's crystal hills 

To Georgia's bloom of cotton, 
Proud Victory's breath our banner fills. 

The white flag be forgotten ! 



110 THE FLOWER OE LIBERTY. 




cibt #Ilr Jfkg ©frer-«a. 

].Y HENRY MOKFORD. 

KXO^V not how the absence fell 

Of that niv eyes so sought with longing, 
The dear old flag Ave loved so well 
When traitor hands were wronging; 



For still, thank God ! it droops and waves 
Where'er the winds of commerce woo it, 
. Or deed of despot, scourging slaves. 
Demands that we undo it. 

But weeks, for me, since Consul's staff 

Had shown the striped and starry streamer, 

Or it had blown from frigate's gaff, 
Or peak of sailing steamer. 

The meteor flag of Britain here ; 

And there an ensign broader, fuller, 
And bruiting victories quite as dear, — 

The Emperor's tricolor. 



^v^,. 




^SS* 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. Ill 



It seemed to me, though dim and far, 
And scarce embodied forth in thinking, 

My own dear land, with stripe and star, 
To nothingness was sinking; 



That I should know my home no more, 

However sought, through toils and dangers, 

But, weary, tread some foreign shore, 
And live and die 'mid strangers. 



And then one morn I wound my way 
Down Calton Hill of Edinboro-', 

With Holyrood my goal to-day, 
And Stirling Carse to-morrow; 

With Arthur's Seat that skyward laughed, 
And the grim Castle piled defiant ; 

Till one full cup of eld I quaffed, 
That made my dull veins riant. 

" Who would not stay from native land," 
I said, "for this, so famed in story? — 

These memories of the Iron Hand, 
And gleams of kingly glory? 1 ' 



112 THE FLOWER OE LIBERTY. 

Who would not ? Pause ! — for, up a spire, 
Against the blue void sheer and utter, 

Azure and white and ruddy fire, 
I saw a banner flutter. 



It was my own, — our own! O Heaven! 

How the quick throb that love convulses, 
When some dear recognition's given, 

Went bounding through my pulses! 

How all my native land at once 

Sprang back to being in the shimmer, 

With those whose absence had for months 
Made every daylight dimmer! 

The gray old driver on his box 

Saw the quick glance, the tear-drop starting 
A smile, whose kin the heart unlocks, 

His sun-browned lips was parting. 

"Hech, mon! " he said, "I ken the sight 
That maks the saft'nm' mood come o'er ye ! 

'Tis a bonnie flag ! — I've seen the light 
In other eyes before ye. 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

" Yer far frae hame, and wee] may spare 
Ane drap to wat yer country's honor; 

For sacl's the load — ay, sad and sair — 
Rebellion laid upon her. 

" Ay, I could a'most greet mysel' 
To see a thing so braw and bonnie, 

And think what faes hae wished it ill, 
Yet floatin' high as ony! " 

I reached and grasped the driver's hand, 
I choked with grateful, mournful feeling 

The home-flag 1 in a foreign land 
Had brought a new revealing, — 



How round a simple bunting-strip, 
In cost a song, in weight a feather, 

A mere mouclxoir for lady's lip, 
A nation's pride can gather. 



A father's fondness for his child, 
A lover's tender, pleading passion, 

A patriot's flame, — all form one wild 
Unreasoning adoration. 



113 



114 THE FLOWER OP LIBERTY". 

" God bless the dear old bannered fold ! 

God keep the hosts who own and guard it! 
Till plucked its hues, when time is old, 

By the same Hand that starred it! " 

So shouted I down Calton Hill, 

And the old Gael's pleased murmur follows; 
And such the shout 111 echo still 

Upon the soil it hallows. 

To float it, Western winds blow free; 

And blue bend Western skies above it: 
But it needs the Old Flag Over-sea 

To know how much we love it ! 



AlBDCHEAKOCROCHAH, HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND, 

August 8, 1865. 




Pig! /» 



**&m 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 115 




Ijsan for Wxdatjs. 

BY EDWARD P. XOWELL. 

^ HOUT, shout the tidings o'er 
The land, from shore to shore, 
All shall be free ! 
The Knights of Bondage bleed; 
Rebellion's ranks recede; 
Our arms triumphant lead 
To victory! 



All hail the glorious sight! 
Columbia's martial might 

Traitors astounds ! 
Fair Freedom's valiant host 
Has silenced Slavery's boast 
Along Secessia's coast, 

And through her bounds ! 



116 THE FLOWER OP LIBERTY. 

God grant we soon may see 
Enduring unity, 

And sheathe the sword: 
Our country's foemen felled, 
Secession's spirit quelled, 
The smoke of strife dispelled, 

And Peace restored ! 



Then Union's banner bright 
Shall herald Freedom's light 

On shore and sea; 
And Heaven's benignant rays 
Illume the Nation's days, — 
Our hearts ascribing praise, 

Great God ! to thee. 



THE FLO WE J J OF LIBERTY. 117 




BY J. ROLLIX M. SQUIRE. 

FLAG-, still proudly dost thon wave 
Above the free, above the brave ! 
And on thy folds, that kiss the air, 
Behold ! morn's opal streaks are there. 
Blent with the hues that warm the skies 
When pallid day from evening flies, 
Ere the red sun removes his crest 
That floods with fire the burnished West. 

The night comes on, yet thou dost share 
The unclouded beauty radiant there ; 
For on thy blue is star on star, 
Thrice burnished in the flame of War, 
As bright as those that glitter where 
The night her mantle trails in air; 
And of thy shining throng not one 
Has lost its light, — not one is gone. 



118 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

Oh, proudly float in every breeze 
That sweeps the land or curls the seas ! 
The world, how haughty, fierce, or cold, 
Thy heavenly hues in every fold 
^\ T ill recognize, and bow to thee, 
Untarnished emblem of the free, 
Red with the blood thy patriots gave 
To strike the shackles from the slave. 

~No longer shall thy ruddy bars 
Be likened to the bleeding scars 
The bondmen wore, before the sea 
Of strife rose up and set them free : 
But in thy spaces, white and red, 
The world shall recognize, instead, 
And chant the song, of glorious note, 
In strife conceived, in Victory wrote. 



THE FLOWEB OF LIBERTY. 119 




%M the Wim. 



BY MR S. A N N S. S T E P II E X S. 



pH, say not that war-times were brighter than 
blvafe&MII these, 



When banners are torn from the warriors that 
bore them! 
Oh, say not the ocean, the storm, and the breeze 

Are proudest and grandest Avhen war thunders o'er 
them ! 
For the battle's hot light grows pale to the sight 
"When the pen wields its power, or thought feels its might. 
Xow mind rules triumphant where slaughter was red, 
And the glory of peace crowns our Bald Eagle's head. 

May the blessings of concord in harmony rise; 

Let the sword keep its sheath and the cannon its 
thunder; 
Let brotherhood reign from the earth to the skies, 

And love link the States that war could not sunder. 



120 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

Where mermaids still weep and pearls lie asleep, 
The flag of disunion no longer shall sweep ; 
Our flag waves triumphant from ocean to shore, 
And its stars light the nests of our eagles once more. 

As a Niobe, folding deep grief to her breast, 

The nation has mourned o'er the children's dissension: 
She called upon Heaven, like a mother distressed, 

And the great God of Battle gave his intervention. 
We feel with a start the quick pulse of her heart, 
And she is no more from her children apart. 
For peace reigns triumphant, our people are one, 
And our Bald Eagle soars with his eyes to the sun. 

The blood that is kindred throbs kindly once more : 
The glow of our joy fills the earth and the ocean; 
It leaps on the waves, and it sings on the shore, 

Till the globe, to its poles, feels the holy commotion. 
Let us join in our might to be earnest for light; 
Where the Saxon blood burns, let it ever be right : 
For our eaglets are nested in glory and love, 
While peace reigns triumphant, and God reigns above. 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 



121 



(The feat gel! gohmfc. 



BY THEODOHE TILTOX. 



Suggested by President Lincoln's First Call for Volunteers. 




IOLL! Roland, toll! 



In old St. Bavon's tower, 

At midnight hour, 
The great bell Roland spoke, 
And all who slept in Ghent awoke. 
What meant the thunder-stroke? 
Why trembled wife and maid ? 
Why caught each man his blade? 
Why echoed every street 
With tramp of thronging feet, 
All flying to the city's wall ? 
It was the warning call 
That Freedom stood in peril of a foe ! 
And even timid hearts grew bold 
Whenever Roland tolled, 
And every hand a sword could hold, 



* The famous bell Roland, of Ghent, was an object of great affection to the 
people, because it rang to arouse them when liberty was in danger. 



122 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

And every arm could bend a bow! 

So acted men 

Like patriots then, — 
Three hundred years ago ! 

Toll ! Roland, toll ! 
Bell never yet was hung, 
Between whose lips there swung 
So grand a tongue ! 

If men be patriots still, 

At thy first sound 

True hearts will bound, 

Great souls will thrill ! 
Then toll, and strike the test 
Through each man's breast, 
And let him stand euiifest ! 

Toll ! Roland, toll ! 
Not now in old St. Bavon's tower, 
Xot now at midnight hour, 
Xot now from River Scheldt to Zuyder Zee, 
But here, — this side the sea, — 
Toll here, in broad, bright day ! 
For not by night awaits 
A foe without the gates, 
But perjured friends within betray, 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 123 

"Who do the deed at noon ! 
Toll! Roland, toll ! 

Thy sound is not too soon ! 
To arms ! Ring out the Leader's call ! 

Re-echo it from East to "West, 

Till every hero's breast 

Shall swell beneath a plume and crest ! 
Toll ! Roland, toll ! 
Till cottager, from cottage-wall. 
Snatch pouch and powder-horn and gun! 
The sire bequeathed them to the son, 
When only half their work was done ! 

Toll ! Roland, toll ! 
Till swords from scabbards leap ! 

Toll! Roland, toll! 
What tears can widows weep 
Less bitter than when brave men fall ? 

Toll ! Roland, toll ! 
In shadowed hut and hall 
Shall lie the soldier's pall, 
And hearts shall break while graves are filled. 

Amen ! so God hath willed ! 

And may his grace anoint us all ! 

Toll ! Roland, toll ! 
The Dragon on thy tower 
Stands sentry to this hour, 



124: THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

And Freedom yet is safe in Ghent ! 

And merrier bells now ring, 
And, in the land's serene content, 

Men shout, " God save the King ! " 
Until the skies are rent ! 

So let it be ! 

A Kingly King is he 

Who keeps his people free ! 

Toll ! Roland, toll ! 
Ring out across the sea ! 
~No longer They but "We 
Have now such need of thee ! 

Toll ! Roland, toll ! 
Xor ever let thy throat 
Keep dumb its warning note 
Till Freedom's perils be outbraved! 

Toll ! Roland, toll ! 
Till Freedom's flag, wherever waved, 
Shall shadow not a man enslaved ! 

Toll! Koland, toll! 
From Northern lake to Southern strand ! 

Toll ! Koland, toll ! 
Till friend and foe, at thy command, 
Shall clasp again each other's hand, 
And shout, one-voiced, " God save the land ! " 
And love the land that God hath saved ! 

Toll! Koland, toll! 



tin: flower of liberty. 



125 



Spirit of tbc Pinion Colours. 



BY MILES O'REILLY. 




E merciful to the South ! 

Not with the empty word in your mouth ; 
But merciful be — let your actions tell — 
To the men who were beaten, but fought so well : 
Be merciful to the South ! 

Be merciful, — and be more, — 
Now that the red days of battle are o'er; 
For, when the first cause of the quarrel is sought, 
No clean hands by us into court are brought: 

Be merciful to the South ! 



Be merciful to the South ! 
Gentle in deed and in word of mouth ; 
For no craven brand on the forehead shines 
Of the men who met us in volleying lines. 

And fought for the flag of the South. 



126 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 

"We are all here at last, 
The terrible days of our struggle past; 
And again the old banner floats elate 
O'er the capitol dome of each Sister State, 

In the Xorth, East, West, and South ! 

Be merciful to the South ! 
For slaughter and ruin and hunger and drouth 
They have suffered who made such a gallant fight 
For a cause that was wrong, but they thought it was 
right : 

Be merciful to the South ! 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 127 



J!*att. 



BY PH(EBE CART. 




LA:NT>, of every land the best ! 

O land, whose glory shall increase ! 
¥ ow in your whitest raiment dressed 

For the great festival of peace, — 



Take from your flag its fold of gloom, 
And let it float undimmed above, 

Till over all your vales shall bloom 
The sacred colors that we love. 

On mountain high, and hill-top low, 
Set Freedom's beacon-fires to burn, 

Until the midnight sky shall show 
A redder pathway than the morn. 

"Welcome, with shouts of joy and pride, 
Your veterans from the war-path's track: 

You gave your boys, untrained, untried; 
You bring them men and heroes back! 



128 THE FLOWER OE LIBERTY. 

And shed no tear, though think yon must 
With sorrow of your martyred band, — 

]^"ot even for him whose hallowed dust 
Has made our prairies holy land. 

Though, by the places where they fell, 
The places that are sacred ground, 

Death, like a sullen sentinel, 
Paces his everlasting round; 

Yet, when they set their country free, 
And gave her traitors fitting doom, 

They left their last great enemy 
Baffled beside an empty tomb. 

Xot there, but risen, redeemed, they go, 
Where all the paths are sweet with flowers: 

They fought to give us peace ; and, lo ! 
They gained a better peace than ours. 

July 4. 1865. 



gooHA th joined ^ 




o-. 



hr- 



s /< \ 



r *° «fI N put ftSU*^ 



THE FI.oWKK OF LIBERTY. 129 



(Ltnion. 



BY ALBERT LAIGHTOX. 




ARK and sullen o'er the Nation lowers 
Fell Disunion, like a tempest cloud: 
Shall its lightnings rend this land of ours? 
Shall it be the Country's sable shroud? 



Shall a band of traitors rashly sunder 
Ties so firmly woven by the free? 

No! the echo rolls, in tones of thunder, 
From the mountain passes to the sea. 

By the many hopes the living cherish, 
By our faith in Freedom's sacred trust, 

By the sainted names that cannot perish, 
By the soil made dear by patriot dust, 

By the noble deeds enshrined in story, 
By the voices speaking from the Past, 

By our priceless heritage of glory, — 
We'll defend the Union to the last! 



130 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 




l^raljam ITmcoht. 

BY MRS. JULIA WARD HOWE. 

ROWl^ his blood-stained jDillow 
With a victor's palm; 
Life's receding billow 
Leaves eternal calm. 

At the feet Almighty 

Lay this gift sincere 
Of a purpose weighty, 

And a record clear. 

"With deliverance freighted 
Was this passive hand; 

And this heart, high-fated, 
Would with love command. 



Let him rest serenely 

In a Nation's care, 
Where her waters queenly 

Make the West most fair. 




LINCOLN. 




** 



■-'^■^^w 



THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY. 131 

In the greenest meadow 

That the prairies show, 
Let his marble's shadow 

Give all men to know, — 

w Our first hero, living-, 

Made his country free; 
Heed the second's giving, — 

Death for Liberty." 




Cambridge : .Stereotyped and Printed by John Wilson & Sons. 



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